1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2“Set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the first month.
3Place the ark of the covenant inside it and shield the ark with the veil.”
4You will bring in the table and arrange everything on it. You will bring in the lampstand and light its lamps.
5You will place the gold altar for incense in front of the Chest of the Covenant and hang the curtain for the entrance of the Meeting Tent.
6You will set up the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the Meeting Tent.
7You will place the basin between the Meeting Tent and the altar, and put water in it.
8You will set up the courtyard around it and hang the curtain for the courtyard gate.
9“You will take the anointing oil, and use it to make the Meeting Tent and everything in it holy. This includes all its furnishings, and then it will be holy.
10You will anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all its tools, and make the altar holy; the altar will then be very holy.
11You will anoint the basin and its stand, and make it holy.
12“You will bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Meeting Tent and wash them with water.
13You will put the holy clothes on Aaron, anoint him, and make him holy, so he can serve me as a priest.
14You will bring his sons and put tunics on them.
15You will anoint them just as you anointed their father, so they can serve me as priests. Their anointing will establish an everlasting priesthood for them and their descendants throughout all generations.”
16Moses did exactly as Yahweh commanded him.
17On the first day of the first month in the second year, the Meeting Tent was set up.
18Moses set up the Meeting Tent by laying its bases, putting up its frames, inserting its crossbars, and raising its poles.
19He spread the covering over the tent and placed the roof of the Meeting Tent on top of it, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
20He took the covenant documents and put them inside the Chest, attached the carrying poles to the Chest, and placed the atonement cover on top of the Chest.
21He brought the Chest into the Meeting Tent, set up the inner curtain, and put it in front of the Chest of the Covenant, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
22He placed the table in the Meeting Tent on the north side, outside the inner curtain.
23He arranged the bread on it before Yahweh, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
24He placed the lamp stand in the Tent of Meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the holy tent.
25He lit the lamps before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
26He put the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting in front of the dividing curtain;
27and he burned fragrant incense on it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
28He hung the curtain for the entrance of the holy tent.
29He set up the altar of burnt offerings at the entrance of the holy tent, the Tent of Meeting, and offered the burnt offering and the grain offering on it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
30He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing.
31Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and feet there.
32Whenever they went into the Tent of Meeting or approached the altar, they washed, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
33He set up the courtyard around the holy tent and the altar, and put up the curtain for the gate of the courtyard. So Moses finished the work.
34Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and Yahweh’s glory filled the holy tent.
35Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting, because the cloud stayed on it, and Yahweh’s glory filled the holy tent.
36Whenever the cloud lifted from above the holy tent, the people of Israel would continue their journey, throughout all their travels;
37but if the cloud did not lift, then they would not travel until the day it lifted.
38For the cloud of Yahweh was over the holy tent by day, and there was fire in the cloud by night, visible to all the people of Israel, throughout all their journeys.